


Tertiary

by misbehavingvigilante



Series: Myriad [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 07:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13699407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbehavingvigilante/pseuds/misbehavingvigilante
Summary: “You know I always did like your true face better.” The voice that met hers was feminine, and refined as if such words practiced so they would sound so lyrical they would ensnare those who listen.Toka quickly thought of genjustu, as not all of them required visual contact to be activated and tensed. When her eyes fell onto Mito, more beautiful and elegant than ever with the same ornate hair and fine clothing she had worn as a child but with the grace of a woman who had worn them for an entire lifetime.





	Tertiary

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't really know Mito and Toka together were a thing until a few days ago? And well, I liked them together and I am trying to write more femslash considering the month so here's my attempt. 
> 
> I always seem to struggle having f/f just be the entire focus so it's usually always gen too, but I mean, these two were such minor characters in the series all things considered that I had to kinda delve into them a bit to know to write a relationship between the two of them. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy? / Edit I moved around the tags in this fic to better reflect the story since I wasn't content with how I did it the first time.

Toka isn’t especially used to be the center of attention. By all means, she prefers it that way, she finds that the overwhelming attention that those at the center endure is vastly overwhelming and honestly something she rather avoid.

In any other clan, her exceptional well rounded skills and an even greater skill in genjustu would have had her in the spotlight. But then, the Senju clan isn’t any other clan. It’s expected to the point of being ordinary when all their shinobis are well rounded individuals.

And even having one standout skill that stood well above the rest, even enough to have been worthy to stand on the same ground as their once rivals of the Uchiha clan with their infamy hadn’t been enough either.

Not when there was Hashirama Senju at the head of the clan.

Not when there was Tobirama Senju at his side.

Despite how it sounds, Toka really doesn’t mind her position as being tertiary, it suits her personality. She wouldn’t want anyone else other than Hashirama leading the Senju clan.

Besides her positon had gifted her valuable insight, she knew most of what went on in the clan and in their fledging village by merely being one of Hashirama’s closest confidants. With that came a few chance meetings with Madara, she wouldn’t have otherwise seen. The man had antisocial tendencies that despite the front he gave off seemed to come from a lack of knowledge of how to navigate all the various strictures of social etiquette that came from a lifetime of battle rather than a true disdain for people as a whole.

Because of that, it could be difficult to secure a conversation with Madara unless it was absolutely necessary, the group of people Madara humor at every turn was especially small and just happened to include Hashirama.

Toka had never missed how Hashirama’s face soften at Madara’s appearance making him appear more youthful than he already looked, combatting away any stress that Hokage office had brought him with startling ease.  Or how bright, and sincere his smiles got when she had maybe times seen him stretch into smiles that he didn’t believe but with on with as not to commit a faux pas unbecoming of his position.

More than that, she had seen what few others had yet to see that these affections weren’t one sided. It was harder to read Madara, she didn’t know him nearly as well, and he didn’t make it easy to know him either.

But Toka like Madara had always strayed towards stoic herself, so she knew with people like that, it was often the small, subtle gestures that gave you away rather than boisterous, one in a lifetime ones that were always guarded to a select few.

Madara looked content instead of the usual reckless spirit like he might take off in full flight, far away from the village around Hashirama. He was slightly more agreeable in Hashirama’s presence, and it was something Toka knew her clan leader took advantage of on the diplomatic outings that he was forced to bring Madara on.

Nowhere as outright Hashirama’s instance to be near or have any excuse to touch Madara at all times, but then again Madara never stopped Hashirama from touching him, either.

The two seemingly had forgotten she was in the background, awaiting a formal dismissal from Hashirama as he got lost in Madara’s eyes again. At least, thankfully they were never red as often as they had been before, there was part of Toka that would never be fully at ease with Madara’s Sharingan activated as a conditioned response from years of war.

With that thought, relinquished as she felt disgusted with herself for even allowing it in Hashirama’s presence, if he had known he would be disappointed in her. As illogical as it was, and reasonable as Hashirama was, he still regarded Madara with an ally, never threat mentality that the rest of the Senju were slow to adapt but willingly to try.

Toka took her leave, unannounced but without a willingness to stay here and wait until the two of them remembered there was someone else in the room with them.

She shook her head, outside in the hallway, it was way too similar to their old days of battle. Madara had been hyper fixated on always battling Hashirama then, with a wrath that had always seemed to weigh more than simply the old blood feud between Uchiha and Senju.

It had only been later when she learnt of their clandestine childhood meetings from an constantly exasperated and but rare inebriated Tobirama who had complained that ‘this’ had been going on for years.

But it helped Toka make sense of what she saw in Hashirama’s eyes during those battles, the same hyper fixated desire back to fight Madara and Madara alone with a degree of possessiveness she hadn’t understood to the point he always warned the rest of the clan to let him.

Others then had reasoned, that distracted by Hashirama at full power, it would be the perfect time to strike at Madara and hobble that Uchiha clan by taking out a prodigy. But Hashirama countered that it would only lead to unnecessary deaths and spoken with such conviction and finality at any suggestions, that it was no miracle that he later became clan leader.

Toka wondered then what may happened with the Uzumaki clan due to wash over their village any day now.

 

 

 

Back at the Senju compound, there had been a few occasions where the Uzumaki clan had come to visit as they shared distant relations, their relationship wasn’t strained with endless war like they were with constant other clans. Not as much as the Uchiha who war even more than them but the Senju almost crushed any opponent they stood against meaning they had many more enemies than they had allies.

So it was a relationship, they took a great deal in care in keeping. Perhaps, then, it wasn’t so strange that on one such trip had brought the nobility of the Uzumaki clan to their neck of woods.

Mito had been a slip of a girl with bright red hair ornate with decorations that looked difficult for any child to keep their hands off and colorful, dainty robes that would be a nightmare in combat or even to walk on forest grounds.

Toka had seen her once dismounting from her entourage before being sequestered into the best quarters the Senju compound had to offer.

Toka had been struck by her beauty, not in an envious sort of way. She had been a plain girl, not with very feminine features but she was a shinobi. There wasn’t really a place in her life for those thoughts any more than a child of war could muster.

Beyond that, Toka had only seen Mito a second time and it had been entirely by accident. She meant to find Hashirama and tell him about her progress with genjustu only come across the two of them together. That had thrown off Toka, temporarily as Mito had rarely been seen outside of her quarters at her parent’s behest. It was unlikely that Hashirama had managed to sneak off Mito unnoticed given how guarded she was, so it had probably been a sanctioned thing then.

Toka wasn’t sure why, but she found was unable to come up with any additional thoughts confronted with Mito up close.

She was even more beautiful like this if that was possible. Mito’s eyes met her own, observing her in turn, but not wary despite her sudden appearance. Hashirama looked like he was about to say something, but Toka flushed under the direct attention.

“I must go.” She squawked, in an undignified voice hardly becoming of the more neutral tone that Toka prided herself on and quickly made her exit ignoring the call from Hashirama behind her and not ceasing until she was well away from the two of them.

What was that?

Toka didn’t know, only her face felt hot and her heart was racing. She could run much faster and longer than this without fatigue, so it didn’t make sense.

Then the sense of shame flooded through her.

Not only had she run off from Hashirama, the prodigy of the Senju, she had also run off from an important Uzumaki ally. Toka wanted to sink to the floor in depression similar to the episodes she had seen on Hashirama several times and only hope that her debacle wasn’t enough to err their relationship.

Nothing had fortunately come from that incident but Toka had never seen Mito after that. Hashirama’s only mention of it had been insistence that she hadn’t needed to leave in the first place as they were just kids, there were no formality that she needed to hold onto as strictly as the adults did.

 

 

 

It was only with the wisdom that came from the passage of years that Toka realized that likely Mito’s parents and Hashirama’s father had been talking of a possible marriage on a much later date.

It’s why the Uzumakis appearance was likely that plan coming to fruition. However no one had likely seen the wildfire that was Madara coming in and scorching any and all other romantic possibilities for Hashirama in one fell swoop. If Toka recalled Tobirama’s drunken history of ‘those fucking idiots’ correctly then the meeting with Mito had been a year or so prior to their childhood meeting.

Toka wasn’t sure how that was going to work out, a few clans had joined them without the need of a marriage but given the Uzumaki were old allies, a marriage may have been received as it was owed.

Or that going back on a promise, if a marriage proposal was ever properly set up in the first place. The fans of war had increased with renewed vitality not too long afterwards, so it was possible nothing had set in stone. Still, the weight of a verbal contract could be used to argue its authenticity.

Another political nightmare thanks to Madara Uchiha?

Toka laughed, so unlike herself but she couldn’t help herself. Sometimes she really did wonder what Hashirama saw in Madara, but she wasn’t going to question him. She’d leave that undesirable task to Tobirama, thank you very much.

It was a belated response, but Toka realized she had eyes on her. Likely breaking from her more stoic streak had garnered attention from the villagers who knew her. However, the gaze felt too heavy, and thick under the weight of a careful eye to belong to nothing but another shinobi.

It wasn’t an uncommon feeling in this village of all things, but Toka didn’t care for drawing attention to herself.

She composed herself, banishing the thought away with practiced ease and took towards going through her to do list. Toka was a busy woman, after all.

“You know I always did like your true face better.” The voice that met hers was feminine, and refined as if such words practiced so they would sound so lyrical they would ensnare those who listen.

Toka quickly thought of genjustu, as not all of them required visual contact to be activated and tensed. When her eyes fell onto Mito, more beautiful and elegant than ever with the same ornate hair and fine clothing she had worn as a child but with the grace of a woman who had worn them for an entire lifetime. She could not uncoil the tension that curled around her body intensely but this time at least it came from another source.

The same familiar source it had come from when Toka had been a child. And as an adult however, she knew the name to those feelings now.

Ah, it looked like she never moved on from her childhood infatuation, after all. It wasn’t like Toka had the chance to test that as she had seen the now woman in well over a decade.

Time had only honed her soft, fine features shaping Mito truly into one of the most beautiful sights that Toka had ever seen. Even if Madara held Hashirama’s eye, surely even he must break from the ill-tempered Uchiha for even just a moment to become so besotted in this beauty.

Again, belatedly Toka realized she hadn’t given a response and had only been floundering on the spot hopefully with a still stoic face. “I must apologize for my lack of-“

“You don’t have to, really.” Mito beamed, and her attention was on her full force. Toka felt stifled under the observation once again, being the object of someone like Mito’s affections full force was staggering. How did anyone not fall to their knees like this and pledge fealty? 

“Come, now.” Mito said softly and approached her gently as one might a wounded animal. “If you really must make it up to me, you could show me around? I would love to have an escort.”

The focus so hammered in and singular to her existence, vaguely reminded Toka of how Hashirama and Madara were but she quickly put that out her mind. Mito wouldn’t want her like that, naturally.

Mito was just teasing her at being so flabbergasted and rightly insisting on an escort as were suited towards her status.

Toka quickly gained some semblance of composure. “Yes, of course. I couldn’t leave you alone.”

“I’m hoping not.” Mito’s words are nothing extraneous yet it seems like there’s a spark of something her eyes that Toka can’t name. “Though, I’m famished from my trip. Would you be so kind to have lunch with me?”

“Gladly.” Toka responded without giving it much thought. She couldn’t very well escort Mito around the village on an empty stomach, could she? No, that would be much too improper.  

Mito deserved a proper welcoming to Konoha, and Toka would do her best to deliver.


End file.
